Airlines Would Like To Be Legally Exempt From Telling You How Much Your Flight Actually Costs

Airlines don't want you to know how much your ticket will really
end up costing. For over two years, American carriers have been
battling Barack Obama's Department of Transportation (DOT), which
is considering requiring airlines to disclose fee information to
travel agent distribution systems and online ticketing agents
like Orbitz.

Some airlines previously
sued the Obama administration over a rule requiring they
disclose taxes as part of the cost of their flights, but they
might hate the fee proposal even more. And their explanation for
their position on fee non-disclosure is especially bizarre. The
Associated Press
explains [emphasis added]:

At the heart of the debate is a desire by airlines to
move to a new marketing model in which customers don't buy
tickets based on price alone. Instead, following the
well-worn path of other consumer companies, airlines want to
mine personal data about customers in order to sell them
tailored services. You like to sit on the aisle and to ski, so
how would you like to fly to Aspen with an aisle seat and a
movie, no extra baggage charge for your skis, and have a hotel
room and a pair of lift tickets waiting for you, all for one
price? You're a frequent business traveler. How about priority
boarding, extra legroom, Internet access and a rental car when
you arrive?

It's hard to see how this is a convincing argument for hiding the
true costs of goods and services from your customers. Add-on and
personally tailored services are well and good, but people should
know how much they will be charged for them. And meanwhile, back
on (or, if you will, above) Planet Earth, the shift in the
airline industry over the past four decades has been
towards more price sensitivity, not less.

Most people who fly want to get from Point A to Point B as
quickly and cheaply as possible, and airlines have proven that
most flyers are willing to give up comfort for price. They may
not like the brave new world of commoditized airline travel, but
they're living in it. It's hard to see why consumer- and
business-travel groups (which almost uninamously oppose the
airlines on this) should have to kowtow to the airlines' dream of
a return to less price-sensitive air travel and less comparison
shopping. (It didn't
work out too well for Virgin America.)

It should be non-controversial that companies competing in a free
market should not attempt to deceive consumers about what their
products and services actually cost.